The Buzz:
Naysayers of the idea that an interesting film could be structured around the narrow premise of one man’s struggle to free his arm from under a rock were silenced by Danny Boyle’s superior Slumdog Millionaire follow-up. Though other characters appear briefly in the time bracketing the film’s central struggle and in hallucinations and flashbacks, the screen belongs to James Franco, who stars as real-life rock climber Aron Ralston. Franco, though exuding his trademark ebullience through much of the film—which, by the way, is startlingly lovely at certain points—convincingly evokes the character’s solitary personality and his bouts with despair as he sets about freeing himself, all the while keeping the viewer invested in the struggle and evoking sympathy without their pity. With ravishing scenery and inventive close-ups—the motif of his dwindling water supply, and later, his own urine, traveling up a drinking tube is particularly effective—to boot, the film won raves but will likely be swept by the other films and performers in the running.

The Story:
Aron Ralston, an engineer by trade, has quit his job in favor of mountain climbing and exploring. On a solo expedition in Utah’sCanyonlands National Park, his arm is trapped by a falling boulder. Unable to dislodge it, he subsists on the meager rations of food and water he has brought for five days. Ralston retains his sense of humour despite the obvious pain and discomfort of his situation, narrating a mock-television interview to his video camera about his own stupidity for not having told anyone where he was going. Though of course the denouement of his release drives the film, the arm-severing portion of the film is remarkably restrained (though affecting, gory, and cringe-inducing nonetheless).

Take a few minutes to peruse the links below and get some background from Britannica and elsewhere:
* Learn about the history of mountaineering and some of the techniques used in this dangerous but seemingly universally compelling pasttime.
* So what happened to his amputated arm? It’s still there….but you can’t see it. Ralston had his arm cremated and spread the ashes after revisiting the canyon with Tom Brokaw for a Dateline interview, which you can view here.
* Drink in the horrors of dehydration, from which Ralston suffered after running out of water and…er…other fluids.